The cartoon blog of Andertoons cartoonist Mark Anderson. He discusses his cartoons, cartooning, comics and, oddly enough, LEGO.
A few weeks back I had the honor of speaking at the 2015 NCS Reuben Awards in Washington, DC. It went really well and was well-received, so I thought I’d share it here in case you missed it or weren’t able to attend.
BTW, there were questions at the end, but I left those off. If you have questions feel free to drop me a line.
This year the National Cartoonists Society held it’s Reuben Awards in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham. It was an amazing weekend and I was so honored to be one of the featured speakers.
First up was an event at the Library of Congress for King Features’ 100th anniversary. Then it was back to the Omni for presentations.
I was up first and I think my talk went really well. I made a recording of it and I’m hoping to post it in a week or so. So stay tuned!
Other speakers for the weekend included Juana Medina, Doug Mahnke, Nick Galifianakis, Brian Crane, Mort Drucker, and a panel hosted by Ann Telnaes.
I think one of the most exciting parts of the weekend for me was meeting Mort Gerberg. He came to my presentation and came up to chat with me afterward. His book, Cartooning: The Art and the Business, was a gigantic help and influence to me when I was just getting started. I was so thrilled to meet him. What a wonderful and kind man.
I also met tons of other people who wanted to chat about my presentation. Everyone had a lot of questions and I was so pleased to talk with them!
Later that night there was a cocktail party and I got to chat with tons of people including Anne & John Hambrock, Adrian Sinnott, Ken Krimstein, and Brigid Alverson.
The next morning was a trip to the zoo. It was just a 10 minute walk away!
Saturday evening was the big awards dinner with a pre-show cocktail party. Again, I got to chat with so many nice people including Tom Richmond, Tom Gamill, Brian Kelly, Tom Stemmle, John Glynn, and Mo Willems.
And of course, my best pal Mike Lynch!
The awards were terrific. (Click here for the list of winners.) Jason Chatfield did a terrific job hosting!
The next day I spent touring DC a bit. I’ve never been here before and really wanted to take it all in.
Well, that’s it. Huge thanks to Tom Richmond and the NCS for inviting me, the lovely Anna for helping things to run smoothly, Latisha Moore for keeping everything organized, John Lotshaw for calming my nerves and making my talk run smoothly, and everyone who was kind enough to take the time to chat with me. What a wonderful and exciting weekend!
I’m super excited and honored to announce that I’m going to be speaking at the 2015 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards! Perhaps even better, I’ve been caricatured by Mad’s Tom Richmond for the brochure cover! (I’m second in from right under the flag with the glasses, hat, and the giant, and sadly quite accurate, nose.)
You won’t believe the other people speaking:
Wow, huh?
I’ll be talking about how I got started cartooning, how I make a living online, and my many spectacular failures.
Hope to see you there!!
Visual marketing continues to be popular, but some of the traditional kinds of images are beginning to get a little stale.
Stock photos are routinely mocked, and infographics aren’t nearly as effective as they once were. In fact, Google’s own Matt Cuts has said:
“I would not be surprised if at some point in the future we did not start to discount these infographic-type links to a degree.”
And as much as I like a good cat GIF, opportunities to use them are, well, limited.
There is, however, another type of underutilized visual marketing that might be just what you’re looking for…
Cartoons are social media’s secret weapon. According to Moz founder, Rand Fishkin…
“Comics, illustrations, or storyboards that tell a narrative visually, (are) incredibly popular and get picked up all the time.”
So what makes cartoons powerful content? Cartoons are:
Because we grow up reading picture books, comics strips, comic books and the like, we have a deep connection to and affection for cartoon images.
Multiple studies show that humor improves memory. Here’s just a few:
See Rand Fishkin above.
I think this quote says it best:
“95% of New Yorker readers read the cartoons first. The other 5% are lying.”
– David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker
So, using relevant cartoons as part of your content marketing is a great idea. But even better are:
Cartoons that integrate your brand and message are incredibly powerful. On the surface they’re simply the gift of a shared joke, but smart marketers know to use cartoons like a Trojan horse, hiding their content subtly inside.
Here are a few recent examples of custom cartoons I created:
Custom cartoons are a significant part of Andertoons, and every year I create a few hundred for forward-looking clients large and small.
With 2015 approaching fast, I’m beginning to line up clients, finalize my schedule, and reexamine my fees. But I thought I’d try something a little different next year:
Even when business is good, creative professionals like myself are always a little nervous about when and where the next job is coming from. So for 2015 I’m offering a very limited number of custom cartoon packages at a terrific discount so I can sleep a little easier.
I’ll create 12 funny and original cartoons about your product, company, or industry that you can use in:
And that discount I was talking about?
The fee for 12 cartoons normally begins at $4800 for grayscale or $8400 for color. But if you reserve your cartoons for 2015 now, you’ll only pay:
$3000 for 12 gray custom cartoons or $6000 for 12 color custom cartoons
You probably have a few questions about how it works, and when you pay and all that, and you can find answers to everything at my Custom Cartoons page.
You’ll want to act quickly, however, because there are only 10 of these discount packages available. And when they’re gone, they’re gone.
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